Method and apparatus for creating and maintaining a GIS

Abstract

A system for presenting a GIS and method for making and using one includes the necessary hardware and software for presenting a GIS over the Internet. The GIS is particularly useful for municipalities and has an interactive, searchable database containing map data and parcel related data, such as tax records and information useful to various departments in a town, such as the police and building licensing departments. A server computer running GIS software presents the map data and the parcel related data to town users over the Internet. The system includes means for updating the related data by utilizing a system where towns fax forms to the system which converts them to image files from which relevant data fields are extracted and evaluated by optical character recognition. To fund the establishment, use and maintenance of the system, citizens are charged fees for submitting data change transactions, i.e., when forms, such as a building application are submitted to the towns. Civil engineers participate in the system by, inter alia, buying licenses to use and market the system to towns, teaching the towns how to use the system, preparing and maintaining maps and otherwise functioning as technical experts mediating between the towns and the system owner.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for creating, marketing, implementing, using and maintaining a data processing system utilizing a map interface, commonly known as a Geographic Information System (GIS). More particularly, the GIS is available to authorized users, such as municipalities, over the Internet. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] GIS's are known and used as a tool to model and depict place-related information on a geographic map displayed on a computer screen. Of course, the information displayed on the screen can be printed out or otherwise stored and / or communicated, e.g., in a file that can be transmitted over the Internet. The map display typically acts as a graphical user interface whereby data associated with a particular location on the map can be accessed by “clicking-on” the location on a computer mouse. When a specific location is “clicked-on”, this causes the data associated with that location to be displayed o...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

This is a materials and human resource planning problem about which insights can be gained through use of a GIS.

For example, a bridge that is funded with federal monies has an expected useful life, requires periodic maintenance and is affected by degrading factors and events such as car impacts and weather.

While a GIS is a desirable tool for the management of geographically related assets, it has not been in common use by municipal government to-date.

Barriers to its successful use include high initial costs for system design and implementation, data input, staff training, staff inertia, management shortcomings, and software and hardware requirements.

Even if a town overcomes the initial barriers, it soon becomes evident that a GIS is only as good as the quality of its underlying database data, and that the normal operations of a town require the data for the GIS to be changed hundreds of times a day.

Few towns are capable of committing sufficient resources to keep a GIS up-to-date.

In addition to the need to input thousands of data changes yearly, GIS's involve large and continual software and hardware maintenance costs and the need for continual training of staff.

Problems with retention of staff and the lack of technical skill of trained personnel have caused GIS deployment failures.

Images